Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Making Your Own Book Video Trailer- Part 2

I put off making my book video trailer for a long time. Why? Because first, I had no idea what to put in it, I mean, I'm a writer, not a film producer. And it's not like I have lots of actors at my disposal. But I was determined. I already covered the issues of photos, etc. in the a previous blog post.

This brings me to a second issue. How do I bring these still shots to life? Music. Now, I had ideas for music in my head. I thought of the movies I've seen and what kind of soundtrack I'd want running in the background. Basically, I thought about the kind of music I'd hear in the background if my book were a movie.

I had to think of the mood I wanted to create. For my early reader, I wanted something upbeat, catchy and cheerful for "The Dog in the Bog." I needed something that would appeal to young children.

For my young adult novel, "Destined Love is Immortal," I needed music of a completely different genre. I was thinking of sword fights in major motion pictures as I listened to a multitude of options of music. The music had to be reminiscent of a sword fight, of action.

The next issue? Where do I get the music?

Well, this was much easier than I'd ever thought. I got the music through Youtube. Fortunately, if you make a photo album/slide show through Youtube, they provide a vast array of music you can choose from free of charge to put your photos to.

I had to listen to quite a few tracks to find the right one, but in the end, I was pleased with the result. There's also an option to fit make the slide show fit the length of the music. I did this and it worked out pretty well.

I'm certain there are many other avenues for obtaining music to go with your book video trailer, but for me, using what was freely available on Youtube was by far the best solution.